http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org Called Your Better Life Index (watch video), the tool is part of a larger OECD Better Life Initiative that aims to measure well-being and progress. The index allows citizens to compare lives across 34 countries, based on 11 dimensions -- housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety, work-life balance -- giving their own weight to each of the dimensions. 1. Australia 2. Canada 3. Sweden 4. New Zealand 5. Norway 6. Denmark 7. USA 8. Switzerland 9. Finland 10.Netherlands
I'm sure it makes Canadians feel better, but really, it's a bunch of BS arbitrary oversimplified measures that mean very little and have no meaningful variation among the top 10-20. No way I would personally live in Sweden.
Well the measures are probably oversimplified, but they certainly aren't arbitrary or BS... I guess the question is, what are the countries that consistently rank high on these "quality of life" studies doing differently than those who rank lower? Out of curiosity, what do you have against Sweden?
Climate and culture, just me. Certain averages probably are indicative of gross generalities but averages applied to such a diverse place like the US are almost meaningless. I think you might agree that Yellowknife and Toronto are like two different planets, so to say all of Canada has one score seems strange. I also think sometimes the people who come up with the weights and measures have some political agenda.